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Staff Directory

Peter serves as Senior Director of the Northern Rockies region. Previously, Peter worked at the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, first as a Program Associate and later as their Mining Issues Coordinator.

Taimur Ahmad joined TWS in 2016 as a Recreation and Forest Policy Fellow based out of the D.C office. Originally from New York City, he learned to rock climb and fish on the boulders and in the lakes of Central Park before graduating to the crags of upstate New York. He has a degree

Mike has been with The Wilderness Society since 1985. His main focus is national forest management and policy, ranging from roadless area conservation to watershed restoration. He also helps coordinate all of The Wilderness Society's litigation activities.

Katherine Arcement is a Digital Content Producer focusing on Energy and Climate for The Wilderness Society. Previously she worked in the digital sphere at The Washington Post and NPR. Katherine is a native of Williamsburg, VA, and enjoys bicycling, running and reading.

Jerry is the Facility Manager at our headquarters office in Washington, D.C. He has assisted in a whole office relocation in 2000, office renovations from 2008 to 2011 and various other facility projects. He maintains a safe and well run office.

Connor Bailey has a Bachelor’s in Geography from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Master’s in GIS from the University of Denver. He worked for Rocky Mountain Wild and its previous organizations from 2002 till 2012 working on many aspects of GIS including capacity bui

Laura is the Deputy Director of Content Development for The Wilderness Society's digital communications team. In that role, Laura works to inform and inspire supporters and Americans to get involved and protect wilderness.

Scott Brennan is the Wilderness Society’s Montana State Director. During his 20-year career in conservation, education and advocacy, Scott has worked closely with a wide array of business leaders, economic development specialists and elected officials while advocating for wilderness protection, fish and wildlife habitat restoration and sustainable economic development.

Brad is the Idaho Deputy Regional Director. He joined The Wilderness Society in early 2006, after spending several years working for the State of Idaho and the U.S. Forest Service conducting field research.

Anne works on climate change related issues in the Northern Rockies through a combination of collaborative, landscape-level adaptation projects and an intensive regional outreach campaign on the impacts of climate change, what it means for Montanans in their everyday lives, and the role of large

Moira Chapin joined The Wilderness Society in 2010. As Senior Philanthropy Officer, she works with major donors in California. Moira has more than ten years of development experience and worked most recently raising major and annual gifts at the University of California, Berkeley.

As the Public Lands Representative in the California Desert, Sheara Cohen works at the intersection of The Wilderness Society’s Land & Water and Energy & Climate programs in one of the country’s largest and wildest ecosystems.

As Washington State Deputy Director, Kitty helps lead The Wilderness Society’s efforts to protect, restore and raise awareness about Washington’s North Cascades region, one of the country’s largest and wildest ecosystems.

Peter serves as the Energy & Climate Campaign Representative based in our Washington, D.C. office. Coming from an activist family in the Gulf Coast, Peter started his career after he co-founded a nonprofit to advocate for LGBTQ policies in Alabama.

Liese Dart is the Director of the President’s Office at The Wilderness Society. She has worked closely with TWS president Jamie Williams in a supporting role since March 2013. Liese Dart joined The Wilderness Society in January 2011 as a Wildlife and Clean Energy Policy Advisor. In that role she focused on putting policies in place to support energy efficiency and smart renewable energy on public lands

Matt holds a BA in History and Government from Bowdoin College, an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and a PhD in Natural Resources and Environment from the University of Michigan, where he focused his research on the effects of human disturbance – in particular, r

Pamela Eaton, Senior Advisor for the Energy and Climate Program, focuses on developing and implementing an organizational strategy to promote the diversification of fossil fuel-dependent rural economies located on public lands in the West.

Lois Epstein is Arctic Program Director for The Wilderness Society. Previously, she was a private consultant on environmental and policy issues, and a senior engineer for several national and regional non-profit organizations.

Susan Farrell joined TWS in 2017 as an Energy and Climate Policy Fellow based out of the D.C. office. She was born and raised in Princeton, New Jersey and graduated from Princeton University this past June.

Jennifer currently works to ensure that the Rocky Mountain Front is protected by helping local people – ranchers, business owners, community leaders, tribal members and others – understand and apply their power to influence politics.

As Controller, Stacey oversees the Accounting Department at The Wilderness Society. She has been at the Wilderness Society since 2004. She graduated from the Maryland University with a B.S. in accounting.

Alison grew up paddling and cross-country skiing the wildlands of northern Minnesota and southwestern Ontario. Her love of the outdoors and desire to protect wild places led her to Bowdoin College for a degree in Environmental Studies, and eventually to law school at the University of Colorado.

Tim Fullman is a wildlife ecologist with the Alaska office of The Wilderness Society. He joined the team in Anchorage in 2014. His research focuses on understanding movements and distributions of large herbivores in response to environmental factors and human impacts.

Patricia (Trish) Gallegos from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Trish was previously employed within the Latino Outreach program of Conservation Voters New Mexico, called Juntos. She held the position of Lead Organizer/Community Outreach Coordinator as well as Office Manager.

Lulu Gephart serves as The Wilderness Society’s Senior Director of Marketing. In her role, Lulu utilizes storytelling to spur members and constituents to take collective action to protect and preserve America’s wild lands.

Jill Gottesman brings the skills of a diverse work history in nonprofit management, environmental education, wilderness therapy and social work to her role of Conservation Specialist for The Wilderness Society’s southeastern regional office.

Phil Hanceford came to The Wilderness Society's BLM Action Center after graduating from law school. Prior to this, Phil worked on grassroots campaigns and researched policy for several non-profit environmental and public interest groups.

Phil joined The Wilderness Society as a Public Lands Fellow in the fall of 2014 after doing stewardship work with a land trust in Virginia and endangered species modeling with a small company in North Carolina. At TWS, he provides GIS support for the land protection efforts of the BLM Acti

Dan is Deputy Director of Parks & Public Lands Defense for The Wilderness Society. Dan works with Congress and the Executive Branch to defend the President’s authority to designate new national monuments under the Antiquities Act.

Scott Hassler joined The Wilderness Society as a Foundations Relations Officer in August 2011. He supports a variety of projects including renewable energy, climate policy and adaptation, and wild land protection and restoration, primarily in the Western United States.

As Energy & Climate Program Director, Chase works with staff in the public policy and public lands departments to develop and evaluate policy options for sustainably managing energy production on the nation's public lands in the face of global warming.

Soren works with a core team in the Central Rockies Office, BLM Action Center and Ecology and Economics Research Department, along with coalition partners, to head up The Wilderness Society's expanded campaign to protect Vermillion Basin and other wildlands in the northwest corner of Colorad

Bill joined The Wilderness Society as Planned Giving Administrator in October 2007. His primary responsibilities include working with estate attorneys, trustees and personal representatives to ensure that bequests are dedicated to our work in accordance with the donor’s wishes.

Jenny works on The Wilderness Society’s Energy and Climate campaign as the Director of Advocacy. She focuses on developing outreach strategies and tactics to support priority energy and climate campaigns.

As the Conservation Operations Manager, Melissa Koskinen is responsible for initiating, designing and leading a wide variety of special projects that strengthen the organization and enhance our conservation outcomes.

Margot Krieger joined The Wilderness Society in December 2014 and serves as Membership Manager. Prior to joining TWS, Margot spent almost 8 years at the National Wildlife Federation driving fundraising strategy and implementation for their Membership and Online Philanthropy programs.

Jason joined The Wilderness Society in 2011 as a watershed ecologist. His research is focused on understanding how anthropogenic impacts (climate change and oil and gas development) affect freshwater ecosystems in Alaska.

Debbie is the Vice President & General Counsel for The Wilderness Society and manages all of its corporate legal matters, including, among other things, contracts, federal and state reporting requirements, and intellectual property.

Yvette Lopez-Ledesma is the Urban to Wild Assistant Director at TWS. She works on programs and policies to ensure equitable access to urban parks and open space in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Albuquerque. Mrs.

With more than 14 years’ experience connecting donors to meaningful opportunities to realize their philanthropic goals and build their legacies, Kristie joined The Wilderness Society in the summer of 2013 as the Director of Advocates for Wilderness. In January 2015,

Mike Marcelo is the Senior Database Operations Specialist with The Wilderness Society's Philanthropy team. Prior to joining TWS in 2012, he worked in database administration and business operations at Reading is Fundamental and Children's National Medical Center.

Allen is a Senior Director of Philanthropy leading The Wilderness Society's Major Gift Program. A "conservationist that fundraises," he is a 20-year veteran of continental scale conservation campaigns.

Jonathan has been a long time advocate for all things digital who most came recently from The Pew Environment Group where he brought them into the digital age with a robust new web site and social media presence.

Caroline left the fresh coast of Wisconsin for salty east coast, coming to TWS in 2016. As Community Coordinator and Social Media Editor, Caroline manages TWS social media channels and activates our growing digital audiences to assist with our wildlands and energy campaigns.

A fundraising professional with over a decade of experience in membership, mid-level, and major giving, Andrea has worked for environmental, arts & cultural, social service, and animal welfare organizations. She joined The Wilderness Society in 2015 as Director of Advocates for Wilderness.

Anhtuan Phan is Senior Systems Administrator in the D.C. office. He came to The Wilderness Society from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prior to IMF, he spent many years at the Brookings Institution.

​ As lead organizer for TWS campaigns in Montana’s Southern Crown of the Continent Region, Jordan works closely with local communities and diverse stakeholders to build coalitions in support of public lands conservation initiatives.

Sharon Russell is the Donor Stewardship Associate in the Philanthropy department. A recent New York transplant, Sharon previously worked at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and at Alley Cat Allies in their development departments.

Paul Sanford is the National Director of Recreation Policy at The Wilderness Society. Paul manages the Society’s work on recreation policy issues, and its programs to connect more people, particularly youth and underserved communities, to the outdoors.

Julie Shackett has been a human resources specialist for The Wilderness Society since December 2014. She has over 5 years of H.R. experience and focuses on recruitment, benefits and on-boarding new employees at TWS.

Kellie Shaw-Walker joins TWS as the Operations Specialist for the Communication and Marketing team. Kellie comes to us with more than seven years experience in non profit operations with specialty in finance, event planning and facilities management.

Jeremy came to The Wilderness Society in 1999 from the Alaska Wilderness League, where he served as the field director of a national grassroots campaign to protect wildlands in the state. Jeremy is currently the Maine State Director guiding TWS important work in that region.

Katy comes to TWS after nearly a decade on Capitol Hill, working for several House members. Most recently, she served as senior legislative assistant to Congressman Bruce Braley covering energy and environmental issues.

A human resources professional with over a fourteen years of experience in both for-profit and non-profit sectors, Jeanna joined The Wilderness Society in December 2011 and serves as Director of HR and Administration.

As a Senior Policy & Planning Specialist, Juli brings to the BLM Action Center a lifelong love of the great outdoors and experience in environmental advocacy from her previous work at Environment Colorado and CALPIRG.

Todd joined The Wilderness Society in 2014 and serves as the Strategic Services Coordinator for the Philanthropy team. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Todd as had varied careers in fields as diverse as higher education administration, property management, and information technologies service.

As Donor Communications Manager, Carolyn helps ensure that our donors are aware of the tremendous impact of their gifts. Prior to joining The Wilderness Society in 2017, she led fundraising for a social service agency serving disadvantaged children in Washington, DC.

Kirsten Stewart is the Executive Team Assistant, supporting President Jamie Williams in the President’s Office, as well as Vice President of Philanthropy Ame Hellman and Vice President of Marketing and Communications Kitty Thomas.

As the Wyoming Public Lands and Energy Associate, Julia Stuble is excited to continue speaking up for the future of Wyoming's remarkable landscapes. With a decade of experience working for public lands and local communities, she

The Vice President of Communications and Marketing, Kitty Thomas leads a team across the country, managing The Wilderness Society’s media relations, digital strategy and marketing and branding work. She joined The Wilderness Society in 2011.

Alex Thompson joined The Wilderness Society in August 2017 as a Communications Manager for the energy and climate campaign. She brings 7+ years of experience in nonprofit communications and journalism, having previously covered the natural gas and renewable energy industries.

Dr. Janice Thomson is the Assistant Vice President of Landscape Analysis. Her experience in remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has been brought to bear on many types of landscape analysis projects in her time with the organization.

Duyen Tran is the Civic Engagement Specialist for the Los Angeles office. She coordinates the San Gabriel Mountains Forever Leadership Academy and conducts outreach and organizing for the San Gabriel Mountains Forever campaign.

After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Finance from George Mason University, Viktoriya joined The Wilderness Society as a Finance Associate in 2013. In her free time, she enjoys being outdoors and traveling the world. Her favorite animal is a giraffe.

Laura is the Senior Philanthropy Officer for The Wilderness Society’s Southwest Region. An attorney by training and over 14 years of fundraising experience, Laura oversees major donors in the southwest of the United States.

Sean Twomey is a native of the Washington, D.C. area and is making his return via the “True North” of Canada where he was most recently Development Writer and Researcher for the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.

As a Senior Regional Representative, Stan Van Velsor works with a coalition of organizations and individuals determined to protect large areas in California’s national forests for the enjoyment of quiet forms of recreation and to ensure that off-road vehicles are managed in a way that redu

Melyssa Watson is the Vice President for Conservation at The Wilderness Society. Melyssa came to The Wilderness Society in 1999 and co-founded our Wilderness Support Center working to build and lead grassroots wilderness campaigns across the country.

As a Senior Regional Conservation Representative, Jeff Widen provides strategic support and direct assistance to campaigns focused on wilderness and conservation designations for BLM and National Forest lands in Colorado.

Tim Woody is the Communications Manager for the Alaska office. Prior to joining The Wilderness Society he was the editor of Alaska magazine, where he managed the editorial operation and oversaw development of that publication’s digital edition and social media marketing efforts.

Barbara Young, Regional Associate, is responsible for program support and facility operations for The Wilderness Society’s Southwest Regional Office located in Denver, as well as providing program and administrative support to the Philanthropy department.